88S 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CUETUilB. 



187 



bees in prood order. I hear of losses in diflferent plac- 

 es, and think perhaps this winter will furnish a new 

 supply of wax. 



"When I tell you that my bees, with the exception 

 of the twelve packed with forest leaves, are in the 

 same place, and in the snme condition that they 

 were in Inst summer, with no packing' on top or 

 sides, unless tbose with sections on can be called 

 "packed," you will have some idea how I felt all 

 through that long- cold storm; but after it was over, 

 and I went to examine them, when I lifted off the 

 cover, out would come a " nose " to see who was 

 meddling; and if they were hybrids, out would pop a 

 bee. I felt better. I found them all in good condi- 

 tion. But, May is not here yet, so good-by until 

 then. Wjt. L. Kixc. 



Sodus, Berrien Co., Mich., Feb. 23, 1883. 



Thank yon, friend K. If tbe demand were 

 sufficient, we could supply veneer sections 

 at about the price you mention, with some- 

 thine: added for cutting the entrances, and 

 for boxing. If I am correct, there is a trou- 

 ble about molding, unless they are put up 

 just about as soon as made. We have had 

 trouble already with \vooden separators in 

 that way. ^V ho can tell us more about it ? — 

 I am at present very much inclined to recom- 

 mend forest leaves for tilling the upper sto- 

 ry of the chaff hives for winter ; l)ut unless 

 the bees were contined below with a loose 

 mat or wire cloth, I am afraid thev would 

 get up around the ventilators, and die among 

 the leaves. Have you not bad trouble in 

 that direction, friend K. V With larger ven- 

 tilating holes in the cover, I feel sure you 

 would have got rid of all that ice among the 

 leaves. See the following : — 



DAMP CHAFF PACKING, AXD THE RE.MEDV. 



Bees did not have a good fly from time winter set 

 in (which was about Nov. 15) till Feb. 10th, Mine 

 arc all in good condition except one, in a single- 

 walled hive, which is very uneasy, and has the dj's- 

 entery slightly. The rest are in Simplicity chaff 

 hives, with inch holes in gables of covers. The 

 single-walled hive had only a hole at one end of the 

 cover, and consequenll.v the chaff packing above 

 the cluster was very damp — so much so that I 

 changed the packing and raised the cover by put- 

 ting nails under each corner. This shows the neces- 

 sity of sufficient ventilation above the packing to 

 drive off any excess of moisture. Holes 1!4 or two 

 inches in diameter would be better than one inch, 

 the latter not being sufficient in my chaff hives to 

 keep the chaff as dry as I would wish. 



John S. Snearly. 



Williamsviilc, N. Y., Feb. 2.5, 1883. 



MARKIXG THE HILT.S OF FIGWORT. 



C. C. Miller wants something to mark his hills of 

 Simpson seed. A radish seed, or a grain of corn will 

 do it in the spring; a castor bean in the fall. 



PAOtETTO HONEY. 



You speak very highly of palmetto honey from 

 our State. Permit me to give you my experience. 

 I am situated in the pine woods, two miles or more 

 from any other timber. Last spring was so dry 

 that the fire swept over the whole country, and my 

 bees were starving all through April. The palmetto 

 was the first to blossom; T watched that and the 

 bees very carefully. I could see the honej' in the 

 blossoms, but the bees did not work much, and the 

 blossoms were covered with two thousand wasps and 



flies to one bee. For three weeks it was the same, 

 and in the hives but little brood was raised, and but 

 little honey gathered, and that honey was all put 

 around the brood in cells, lengthened with dirty 

 brown wax. The end of the cells was turned up and 

 not sealed; the honey was dark— bad-tasting and 

 fermenting. Remember the fermented honey which 

 Mr. Hart, of New Smyrna, spoke of in Gleanings a 

 year or two ago. My conclusion is this, after two 

 years of observation : The saw-palmetto honey is a 

 myth, the bees never gathering any more of it than 

 for immediate use: it ferments in the cells; is not 

 eatable, and dark; also the wax made of it. 



ANOTHER REPORT FROM GALLBERRY. 



But we have a bush, of which nobody has ever 

 spoken yet, and which is our honey-plant par excel- 

 lence. It is the gallberry, or evergreen. It grows 8 

 or 10 feet high, and blossoms profusely the second 

 year after a fire, and regularly every year. The 

 bloom is small and white; comes out at every leaf, 

 and is succeeded by a round black berry the size of 

 a pea, too bitter to be oaten by any thing; so much 

 so that it will hang to the bush for a year or more. 

 As soon as the lirst flower opens, a new life takes 

 possession of the hive, which tills up in a few days. 

 The honey in comb is snow-white when extracted; 

 of a golden color, verj- thick and good. 



SWEET POT.\TO AS A HONEY-PI>ANT. 



Another good honey-plant is the sweet potato. 

 When the bees work on them they have the spot 

 you describe on bees which work on the touch-me- 

 not, only it is of a pale yellow. 



A HONEY-VINE WANTED. 



Which is the best vine for blossoms and honey, 

 and to cover a paling fenc?? Aug, Ley vraz. 



Palatka, Fla., Dec. 3J, 188;,'. 



BEES IN CELLAR WITH NO COVERING. 



Mr. C. J. F. Howes, in his article on upward ven- 

 tilation, page 186, Apr., 1883, gives my views almost 

 entire. Last winter I put 3 colonies in cellar, with 

 upper stories on. One had a covering over the 

 frames, the others had not. Some time after, I 

 thought I would fill the upper stories with chaff; 

 but to my surprise I found the one that was " blan- 

 keted" had dysentery, while the others had as sweet 

 a smell as in stunmer; consequently I dispensed 

 with the chaff, and those two wintered well, while 

 the one that was covered dwindled till it had to be 

 united with another. 



CHAFF HIVES VS. CELLAR. 



I have used the Root chaff hive for two winters, 

 and think it by far the best way. I intend to winter 

 all in chaff hereafter., 



SEPAR.A.TORS. 



My experience with tin separators has been, that 

 the bees will work in the sections sooner without, 

 and I have not had much trouble with crooked 

 combs if starters were used. 



FRIEND HUDSON'S FIRST SWARM. 



Wm. Fliokinger's report on page 299, June No., 

 1883, reminds me of my first experience with bees. 

 My father bought 3 swarms, and gave me one. I 

 was delighted at once, and used to sit for hours and 

 watch them work. Sometimes they would alight on 

 my face, and were so gentle I soon got the fever. 

 The next spring I bought a swarm in a box hive for 

 llt.OO; transferred them, and sold $16.00 worth of 

 honey in the fall (which looks small beside some of 

 the " big bee-stories," as friend Bannon calls them), 

 but was " big " in my estimation. M. L. Hudson. 



Charles City, la., Dec. 26, 18S3. 



